Hi cwradar,
According to Steve Sora, the author of ?The Lost Treasure of the
Knights Templar?, one theory surrounding the mystery of Oak Island
claims the order of the Knights of Templar buried treasures of gold,
silver, jewels, and the focus of your question, ?documents that may be
as explosive now as when they were buried?
We do know that mercury (as mercuric chloride)was often added to paint
and in the paper-making process to prevent mold and mildew. ?One
intriguing clue is that Sir Francis Bacon wrote of preserving
important documents in mercury. Flasks with a residue of mercury have
been found on Oak Island?
http://www.atlantisrising.com/issue20/20templar.html
?Sir Francis Bacon was familiar with the science of preserving
manuscripts in mercury. This coupled with his fascination in secret
chambers points directly to the Money Pit. The finding of ancient
flasks containing mercury plus the recovery of a piece of mysterious
parchment allows the theory to become more credible. Consider the
expert knowledge of geography which could have been made available to
Bacon, had his father really been Sir Francis Drake. The acclaimed
explorer could have quite possibly come across Oak Island on his
travels and the pit, maybe a natural shaft, would have made the ideal
location for the hiding of such valuable documents in a protective
bath of mercury.
It is certainly possible that Bacon had the contacts and status to
arrange a secret burial of his valuable manuscripts in a preservative
mercury bath. ?
http://www.oakislandtreasure.co.uk/bacon.htm
"...[Sir Francis] Bacon had written of concealing works in mercury [to
preserve texts]..."
http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/watch-unto-prayer/new-scripture.html
?Once when the drill was pulled up he noticed specks of a silvery
substance mixed with the clay on the point. It was free mercury.
(Mercury is almost never found in its metallic form in nature.)?
Penn Leary, A History and Inquiry Into The Origin of The Money Pit, 1953
http://home.att.net/~mleary/oakislan.htm
These two accounts make no mention of mercury, but are interesting enough:
http://www2.actden.com/writ_den/l03/direct.htm
http://www.unmuseum.org/oakisl.htm
On this fascinating page, from Central European University, the
parchment making process is described, originally made from sheep or
goat skin. ?Parchment is extraordinarily durable, far more so than
leather, for instance. It can last for a thousand years, or more, in
perfect condition?
http://www.ceu.hu/medstud/manual/MMM/frame3.html
Some ancient inks were mercury based - ?In a report in Archaeometry
38 (1996) 97-102, Y. Nir-El and M. Broshi present an analysis of
samples of the Qumran red ink, which they identify as made from
mercury sulfide. Some writers call mercury sulfide cinnabar (but
others define cinnabar differently; the Latin, used by Pliny in
Natural History IX, 36-41, is mimium). Mercury sulfide was rare and
expensive and preferred by some for use in ink?
http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/orion/archives/1998a/msg00482.html
http://www.ceu.hu/medstud/manual/MMM/frame10.html
Chemicals used in the past to preserve books:
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r8820e/r8820e06.htm
?After their discovery the mortality rate for the scrolls continued to
climb as would-be conservators struggled to find a way to unroll the
fragile manuscripts. Some scrolls were turned to mush when they were
painted with mercury; many were sliced down the middle and cut into
fragments. Early transcribers would copy the visible outer layer of a
scroll, then scrape it off and discard it to read the next layer.?
http://magazine.byu.edu/article.tpl?num=44-Spr01
From a National Radio, Australia, interview by Robyn Willims with
Carolyn Rose, chair of the Department of Anthropology at the National
Museum of Natural History, The Smithsonian in Washington, we know that
mercury was used to preserve documents:
Robyn Williams: What was the problem with the mercury based objects?
Carolyn Rose: Well we?ve had a number of specimens that were treated
in the past with mercuric chloride. And mercuric chloride is a very
clear, colourless liquid when it?s applied but we?re finding that
through time that the mercuric chloride is reacting with sulphur that
maybe produced from the breakdown of the keratin for example. Or it
may be produced from rubber gaskets in the cases or it may be just
produced from sulphur in the air and it?s turning the collections to
black.
Robyn Williams: That must be pretty hazardous for the staff as well
breathing in mercury?
Carolyn Rose: As a matter of fact current tests have shown that
mercury vapours are still coming off a number of these collections.
Robyn Williams: What about your books, your parchments, the records of
biological material, is there a problem there too?
Carolyn Rose: Yes, and one of the biggest problems again is with the
environment here in Washington DC. In the summer time we have very
high relative humidity and we can have problems with the absorption of
moisture and even more growth on these collection. In the winter on
the other hand we have forced air heating which dries out the air
sometimes down to 20 or 15% relative humidity causing shrinkage of
these materials and makes them brittle. So it?s very important to keep
all of these collections in a stable environment.?
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s421179.htm
Evaluating and Documenting Museum Collection Use, from The National Park Service:
?Determine what problems may arise from materials used to treat or
prepare collections historically, such as arsenic, mercuric chloride,
DDT; vaporizing compounds with residues such as naphthalene or
paradichlorobenzene; or wet collection fluids such as formaldehyde or alcohol.?
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/publications/MHIII/mh3ch1.pdf
?All the paper mills used very large amounts of mercury prior to 1972,
before it was banned by the EPA for use in paper products used as
containers for food," Kohl said.? This ban was imposed after the
world became aware of a large scale mercury poisoning in Iraq. In
trying to deliver famine relief, the World Health Organization
delivered a large supply of wheat that had been soaked in a commonly
used mercury based fungicide. The wheat was intended for planting, to
produce new crops. However, the wheat was turned into bread flour
instead, resulting in tens of thousands cases of mercury poisoning.
The EPA had also found , around the same time, high mercury levels in
milk cartons-the paper had been treated with mercury. These tragic
incidents helped alert the world population to mercury dangers, and
subsequently caused mercury to be banned in paper production and as a
fungicide.
http://www.louisianaweekly.com/cgi-bin/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20030825r
?For decades liquid mercury metal and mercury compounds were used
extensively, if not promiscuously, in a host of industrial processes,
such as light bulb manufacturing, reflecting surfaces for mirrors, and
as a fungicide and biocide in paints and paper. While many of these
uses have been discontinued or reduced, plants which used to make
these products have often since been converted to other industrial and
residential uses. For example, in Newark, N.J., an old high-intensity
light bulb manufacturing plant, used in WWII, was abandoned by GE and
later sold to a group of artists for homes and studios. Many of the
residents later became ill, and after investigation, the place was
found to be hopelessly polluted with mercury from the old
manufacturing plant. Eventually, the building had to be abandoned and
torn down ? it was just not possible to get rid of enough of the old
mercury soaked into the building to make it habitable?
http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/h&s0702.html
The Smithsonian Conservation methods:
http://www.si.edu/scmre/relact/specialty_papers.htm
http://www.si.edu/scmre/relact/paperdocs.htm
This site, which describes manuscript preservation from the XII-XVI
centuries does not mention mercury at all.
http://www.umilta.net/ege.html
To summarize, yes, mercury is an effective paper/parchment
preservative. Mercury was used in the US in paper manufacturing until
1992, as a fungicide. While there is some historic documentation that
mercury (in mercuric chloride form) was used as a parchment/manuscript
preservative, it seems not to have been widely known or used. What
may have contributed as well, historically, to document, manuscript
and painting preservation, was the fact that many inks and paints were
made of mercury. It would be impossible to say how long a mercury
soaked parchment could be preserved, as various factors come into
play. Storage conditions affect the life of a document more than
anything?light, air, chemicals, moisture, molds, organisms, vermin,
and skin oils from handling have a great affect on document
durability. If any documents are indeed found in the ?Money Pit? of
Oak Island, their state will depend on the conditions in which they
have been sitting!
I hope this adequately answers your question! If any part of my answer
is unclear, of if I have duplicated information you already had,
please request an Answer Clarification, before rating. This will allow
me to assist you further, if possible.
Regards
crabcakes
Search Terms
Mercury book preservative
Parchment preservation mercury
Mercuric chloride manuscript preservation
Oak Island mystery |
